Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumCurmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)It is that desire to laugh at authority.....I never thought of religion as authority before, but it seems that it is.
rexcat
(3,622 posts)but I never considered religion as an authority figure. Maybe my complete disrespect for religion is why I don't pander to religion. Maybe by complete disrespect for religion is based on my anti-authority views. Something to ponder.
Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)I used to get those little demerit checkmarks for not respecting authority even in grade school. Still, it took most of my life to shake off the shackles of religion.
rexcat
(3,622 posts)during the Viet Nam War. If I had been drafted, a very real proposition considering my draft number, I would have probably ended up going there which was not appealing in any way. The military lifers and I did not get along. The last 18 months I was in was not pleasant! I still have a major dislike of the military.
dimbear
(6,271 posts)which you can steal from Wikisource, IIRC, and it contains some lovely mockery. The Preacher and the Slave is by far the most famous, everybody knows it. Our forebears saw right thru religion and weren't afraid to say so, sing so, and in the case of Joe Hill, pay an awful price for it.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)I can take it or leave it.
But I think religion is past the point of being an authority except in the individual's eyes; it lost that power long ago. The problem is that there are those who would like to restore its authority by undermining human progress and hence take control themselves much like the wealthy and powerful of centuries past. That must be fought at all cost. Poking fun at religion could be beneficial in unmasking the mysticism helping people loosen up to the less than holy nature of it and in doing so they may think for a moment before swallowing the bate making a fool of themselves.